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Performance Research

After looking and diving into partial blendshape and facial rigging in the last semester on my PLP project. i already breifed myself on visemes and phonemes. these are ways to translate and control and articulate the facial movements of rigs. we have to think about how when we speak certain sounds require particlar movements with out mouth to make. one key blendshape may make the lips widen, one may make them curl out, another may control how far the mouth opens etc. certain letters being spoken may also result in a similar movements of the mouth to produce such as D or T, when sounded out require very similar movements of the mouth and tounge. sounds such as M require the mouth to close, contrastly sounds such as O require an open mouth.

"The term phoneme was coined by French phonetician Antoni Dufriche-Desgenettes (1804–1878) to refer to speech sounds. It is adopted from the Greek word phoneme, meaning “a sound uttered.” A phoneme on its own is arbitrary and abstract, but it combines with other phonemes to form words."

Prakash Padakannaya and Chengappa, S.K. (2013). Phoneme. The Encyclopedia of Cross‐Cultural Psychology, pp.1005–1006. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118339893.wbeccp417.

Due to the nature of letters not translating into their own specific mouth shape, and some sounds overlapping/ clashing, interesting results can occur; I have come across Bad Lip Reading in the past, which was a channel dedicated to changing the appearance of words from characters. This was usually alongside humorous music to create an alternate story from the original. Our teacher put on a similar clip of Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi from Star Wars having a legitimate discussion in the context of the film, which in this bad lip-reading video was changed to a much more funny conversation including "dookie buttons" at around 2:20 minutes in. Link on the right:

Bad Lip Reading (2015). ‘RETURN OF THE JEDI: A Bad Lip Reading’. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ge4_stUpqs [Accessed 25 Mar. 2019].

Visemes are key facial expressions used by animators to create the illusion of speech in movies and cartoons, making characters more realistic and expressive.

On the right is the same research image used from my PLP project last semester. I decided to bring it back for this project as I found it to aid in creating my realistic mouth movements once again.

Reallusion.com. (2024). Setting Lips Shape Data. [online] Available at: https://www.reallusion.com/iclone/help/3dxchange5/pipeline/04_Modify_Page/Face_Setup_Section/Setting_Lips_Shape_Data.htm [Accessed 30 Sep. 2024].

youtube research tutorials

www.youtube.com. (n.d.). The Secret Workflow for Animating Dialogue. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cIxEZwZmS4 [Accessed 28 Apr. 2022].

This video provided valuable advice to disect sentences last semester for my PLP project, which involved creating blendshapes and adhereing to phonemes and visemes to create a visual lipsync match for lyrics in a song created by a music student here at Ravensbourne.

As can be seen in this image a few words are broken down on the ways they can be emphasised. He explains how sounds such as "B" and "K" alongside vowels are often a push of air coming from your mouth which can be easily understood in animation as some sort of opening movement on the jaw which is needed to allow the air to come out from the mouth. This seems like a much more fun way to translate dialogue to visual. just following visemes and phoneme maps can sometimes result in flat and unexpressive actions. understanding what words and letters would be better suited and heavily emphasised during dialogue can help in directing the narrative beyond translation maps, spending more time or energy on the more important sounds that get the message across with creative intent.

www.youtube.com. (n.d.). IMPROVE Your Lip Sync Animation in 3 Steps. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fySj1JDAFZQ [Accessed 4 Jun. 2021].

In this tutorial he goes more in depth into the practical side within maya and applying these previous principle on a rig. He talks more in depth about how for full control and readability, the more facial controls you have, the better. Having a simplified rig can cause an issue if it does not have the ability to pose the lips in the right shape. I encountered this issue not only due to my rig having less than the common 52 blendshapes for the ARKIT system, or 44 from the FACS mapping system, which are both common standard blendshape systems, which are suitable for higher detailed animation and articulated facial tracking, it also lacked dedicated cheek controls as well as tricky corner-lip controls.

I managed to incorporate advice from the tutorials but trying to use other controls that may mimic this movement, such as I cant move the individual corners of the lips forwards or backwards, only up and down or sideways. Around the corners of the lips I also tried to mimic the sticking out of the pouting expressions by instead using the "inflate lips", which brought out the corners slightly more. Another area is with the eyes. When the eyelids closed the eyeballs sometimes showed through the geometry. There was an included control to fix the "eye crash correction." but it didn't fully solve the issue. Going into the node editor, I've managed to adjust the values of the set-driven-key on the eye controls to fix this.

Animated Films

I have also come to the realisation that being fond of realism in CGI, I dont watch enough cartoony style animation. Based on this realization, I have decided to watch more animated shows. After talks with my tutor about expressive animation in films, He mentioned Hotel Transilvania. I was aware of the whispy and snappy movements of characters in this movie from seeing clips before but was not aware it was that snappy and exaggerated the whole way through. After watching some scenes from the movie, one particular area that was extensively expressive was when the vampire man snatched the mic from the boy.
Below I have analysed clips from the movie Hotel Transilvania, and have talked about its relation to animation, performance and our rigging module.

Clips & Chill (2023). Singing About The Zing | Hotel Transylvania | Clips & Chill. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnWe9Zl2kDY [Accessed 11 Dec. 2024].

As you can see from me annotating on each frame here I have outlined the great methods and practices used in animation which draw heavily from the 12 Principles of animation. Not only here are arcs and curves heavily implemented, but also the adaptability and customisation of rigs with flex. Having rigs that can conform to such smooth curves and bends in the arm results in some of the slickest movements in animation I have ever seen. Using lines as directions to where the movement is going and having visual paths in the air traced from one frame to another it results in the appearance of energetic and lively movements.
I feel I can draw inspiration to my own work, which especially with character mechanics last year, I felt was very solid and I was playing it rather safe. I felt for my performance challenges I should try to express a bit more in my animations. This means leaning into my angles a bit more and not being too cautious about pushing a pose.

social issues film research

Breaking Down the Impact of Inside Out (2015):

Imdb (2015). Inside Out. [online] IMDb. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2096673/.

This movie sheds new light on a few social topics. It was a recommended watch to me by a fellow classmate named Nur-Karn, and I was surprised at how well certain social ideas and concepts were raised in this film. Let me explain why:

Key Social & Psychological Themes:

Mental Health Representation
Inside Out addressed emotions in a new light, especially for kids. They represented emotions with characters, which may help to understand them. As an example, the movie shows that sadness isn’t actually “bad,” which is a huge common trend in kids media. It’s like, instead of just saying “be happy,” it teaches that all emotions have a purpose. Even therapists use it to help kids figure out what they’re feeling.

Karel, R.B. (2024). ‘Inside Out 2’ as a Therapeutic Tool. Psychiatric News, 59(09). doi:https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.pn.2024.09.9.33.

Neurodiverse Perspective
The movie Inside Out isn’t directly about neurodiversity, but it offers a valuable lens on how people process emotions differently. During my time working as a 1-to-1 support staff for children with special educational needs (SEN) at an infant school, I encountered many moments where children struggled to express or regulate their emotions. These experiences made me question whether the portrayals in media or society—particularly the tendency to view emotions like sadness or anger as undesirable—contribute to these challenges.

In Inside Out, the "control panel" metaphor illustrates that no two brains function in the same way. Joy’s approach to managing emotions doesn’t suit everyone, which highlights the importance of all emotions and challenges the notion of a "normal" way to handle them. This perspective resonates with the idea that emotions serve a purpose, and that acknowledging them is a key part of understanding diverse emotional experiences.

Cultural Impact on Mental Health
This movie didn’t just stop at being entertainment – therapists and even medical schools seemingly use it to explain emotional intelligence and mental health. After researching I found actual research papers have been written about how it helps teach emotional literacy. Which I find pretty impressive for a fully animated movie.

The linked paper below discusses "how the movie highlights some of the key principles of normal and abnormal child emotional development and possible clinical implications":

Benarous, X. and Munch, G. (2016). Inside Childrenʼs Emotions. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 37(6), p.522. doi:https://doi.org/10.1097/dbp.0000000000000312.

Breaking Gender Stereotypes
Riley’s character is sporty and emotional – breaking away from those typical girly stereotypes. it also shows that it’s okay for girls to feel angry, which is usually not encouraged. It’s also great how they show families can communicate about tough emotions in a healthy way.

Critical Artistic Achievements:

Visual Metaphors
The way Inside Out visualizes emotions is neat too. Shape and colour language such as, Joy visually glows, Sadness is shaped like a blue tear or droplet, corners on harder or sharper emotions like anger, or a question mark shape, which I felt could have been well suited for confusion, but still fits well on fear. The memory orbs are also a clever way to show how emotions colour memories. It’s artistic and simple but emotionally deep and informative at the same time. I have drawn the shapes above some of the characters here on the right:

Scientific Accuracy
The creators actually worked with psychologists, so the core emotions in the movie are based on real research. Even the memory orbs—how they showed memories fade or get consolidated—is based on actual neuroscience. It’s great that they made it educational and fun without making it feel like a science or social lecture.

Psichi.org. (2016). Inside Out: Behind-the-Scenes Science With Dacher Keltner, PhD. [online] Available at: https://www.psichi.org/page/203EyeSpr16aCannon.

Impact for Animation:

This movie raised the bar for how animated films can handle deep, complicated topics. After Inside Out, a lot of movies started tackling mental health more directly. It also proved that you can take abstract ideas, like emotions, and turn them into something kids and adults can both relate to.

Mason, C. (2022). Inside Out Broke A Pixar Trend (& Changed What Their Movies Could Be). [online] ScreenRant. Available at: https://screenrant.com/inside-out-movie-pixar-original-sequels-trend-change/.

Why It’s Relevant:

Inside Out made talking about mental health normal – not just for kids, but for everyone. It can give people a way to talk about their feelings without it being awkward or too complicated. It showed that all emotions, even ones we think are “bad,” are actually really important. Plus, it gave parents and teachers tools to help kids understand their emotions better.

It relied on the children and the audience to understand these big ideas without dumbing them down, which isn’t something kids’ movies usually do. Inside Out changed how we think about emotions and opened the door for more movies to explore mental health in a meaningful way.

Extra analysis

Breaking Down the Impact of Zootopia (2016):

IMDb (2016). Zootopia. [online] IMDb. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2948356/.

Key Social Themes:

Prejudice and Stereotyping: Zootopia employs predator-prey relationships as a metaphor for common real-world societal struggles of racism, sexism, and social bias. The film shows how societal stereotypes can limit individuals' opportunities and perpetuate systemic discrimination. Prejudice got in the way of Judy Hopps, Judy dreams of becoming a police officer, but she’s repeatedly told that bunnies can’t be cops because their species is too small and weak. This prejudice is reinforced when Gideon Grey bullies her and dismisses her ambitions as unrealistic.

Key Scene Example: Judy’s speech about predators unintentionally feeds into societal fears about their inherent danger. This highlights how even well-meaning actions can perpetuate systemic biases, mirroring real-world discussions around implicit bias and stereotyping.

Ethical Questions about Predation: The predator-prey analogy not only attempts to show that even groups with historically antagonistic roles can coexist peacefully It also points out that bad behaviors need to change for this to happen. Nick Wilde, for instance, is seen as untrustworthy just because of where he comes from. This shows that even those labeled as predators can control their instincts. It also suggests that society can change harmful beliefs. for example, in real life, carnivores like cats can survive on plant-based diets with planning; even my dog Leia, who was a Springer Spaniel, when I lived back in Brighton, lived happily on a plant-based diet.

Key Scene Example: Nick’s flashback to his youth, where he was muzzled due to his species, is a poignant reflection of societal bias. This scene can highlight the pain of being labeled inherently dangerous within different societal groups, but also opens the door to reimagining systems where predation (or systemic harm) is no longer necessary, making it a good anchor for discussion.

Team, O.V. (2023). Bramble, the Vegan Border Collie dog who broke a world record for longest lifespan. [online] Omni pet ltd . Available at: https://omni.pet/blogs/news/bramble-the-vegan-border-collie-dog-who-lived-to-25-years-old-and-broke-a-world-record-for-longest-lifespan [Accessed 14 Dec. 2024].

Bannarasee, R. (2024). What do predators eat in zootopia? - Chef’s Resource. [online] Chef’s Resource. Available at: https://www.chefsresource.com/faq/what-do-predators-eat-in-zootopia/?utm [Accessed 14 Dec. 2024].

I found this online review of the film with a title that seems somewhat sarcastic and negative, but it actually supports my argument: "The premise of Zootopia is that these creatures have evolved past the point where they need to kill each other for survival, which is a great metaphor for how human civilization has been developed. Of course animals are at their best when they’re not at each other’s throats!"

Jon Negroni. (2016). Snarcasm: Only Smart People Realize ‘Zootopia’ is a Bad Movie. [online] Available at: https://jonnegroni.com/2016/03/10/snarcasm-only-smart-people-realize-zootopia-is-a-bad-movie/.

Systematic Discrimination and Reformation: The film offers hope, demonstrating that when people push against stereotypes and oppressive norms, change is possible. This approach aligns with movements calling for systemic reform, a sustainable or ethical lifestyle, causing less harm.

Critical Artistic Achievements:

World-Building as a Metaphor: Zootopia’s has interesting districts, based on species - like Tundratown and Sahara Square - reflect social segregation by the environment. While also reflecting the challenges of creating space for all, and the inherent conflicts on how to bring together groups that can often be at odds with one another.

Allegorical Storytelling: The predator-prey analogy provides an accessible entry point for discussing societal biases, as everyone is likely to understand, and it also carries deeper ethical implications. By implying that predators can suppress harmful instincts and adapt to coexist, I feel the film reflects the real-world potential for carnivorous individuals and societies to adopt non-harmful practices, even if they were originally deemed challenging, reinforcing the possibility of systemic change.

Here is a review from a Quora user who argues that "using animals does NOT work as a metaphor". I disagree, as I believe using animals can be an effective way to address complex social issues, particularly for children, who often connect well with animals and find them relatable.

Quora. (2019). I hate Zootopia, both the original concept and the movie. It’s all garbage to me. Am I the only one? [online] Available at: https://www.quora.com/I-hate-Zootopia-both-the-original-concept-and-the-movie-It-s-all-garbage-to-me-Am-I-the-only-one [Accessed 14 Dec. 2024].

Now here is a positive review from Kristy Puchko, shown on the popular site Rotten Tomatoes, highlighting its effective use of metaphors and its relevance to contemporary social issues: "Sure to speak to kids and grown-ups alike, Zooptopia unfolds a poignant lesson about how prejudice can hurt people, but also how it can be overcome. And it does all this in a wonderfully fun film."

www.rottentomatoes.com. (n.d.). Zootopia (2016). [online] Available at: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/zootopia.

Why It’s Relevant:

Zootopia is a great example of how animation can tackle important issues like prejudice, reform, and inclusion, and even inspire change. Although its basis in predator-prey analogy requires caution in interpretation, and some viewers may not find it realistic, I do. The core ideas at the heart of the film demonstrate the view that systems and behaviours that are damaging must change in order for coexistence and survival, and positive change is possible when standards that are damaging are put into question. For animators and storytellers, this highlights the importance of thoughtfully choosing metaphors in animated films that can address complex social and ethical issues carefully and efficiently.

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